Have news about HIV? Send press releases, news tips and other announcements to news@poz.com.

January 12, 2012

Lower HIV Cases, AIDS Deaths in British Columbia

AIDS deaths and new HIV cases are decreasing in British Columbia, Canada, The New York Times reports. The province's new approach, instituted by the British Columbia Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, involves proactively persuading at-risk individuals to be tested and putting those who test positive on antiretrovirals immediately—reducing their risk of transmitting the virus by 96 percent if their treatment is effective. Victoria, the province's capital, also hosts a legal supervised injection site to reduce intravenous transmission. The center's director, Julio S. G. Montaner, MD, FCCP, says that increased testing and stable syphilis rates indicate that the drop in new HIV cases is not attributable to either fewer tests or greater condom use.

(Note: The POZ team reviews all comments before they are posted. Please do not include either ":" or "@" in your comment. The opinions expressed by people providing comments are theirs alone. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Smart + Strong, which is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by people providing comments.)